I’ve been making this soup for several years, but I have finally figured out how to make it taste right, like the old canned tomato soup we used to buy. The secret is using Coffee Rich. I used to make it with soymilk and even tried it with almond milk, but it never tasted as good as it did when I used to make it with dairy milk. I tried it last month with Coffee Rich instead of soymilk and it tastes exactly right. The kids liked it so much we’ve had it for lunch 4 times since then. I serve it with tuna or peanut butter rice cakes for a super quick lunch that tastes good, doesn’t cost too much, and that makes us feel like we’re eating real food, instead of allergy-food.

This soup takes only a little bit longer to prepare than canned tomato soup. It’s much more flavorful, provides larger servings, costs less, has nothing artificial, and can be made with ingredients that are readily available in your pantry. The ultimate in comfort food.

Instant Cream of Tomato Soup

Ingredients

6 ounce can tomato paste

3 cans of water

1 can of Coffee Rich or soymilk or almond milk or evaporated dairy milk

1 tablespoon onion powder (yup, a whole tablespoon)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon sugar

1 or 2 teaspoons beef or chicken bouillon powder or 1 or 2 bouillon cube (depending on how salty you like it)

1 or 2 tablespoon dairy-free margarine

Directions

Open up the tomato paste. Scrape the paste into a 1-1/2 or 2-quart saucepan. Fill the empty tomato paste can with water from the sink. Swirl the water around to get out all of the tomatoey goodness. Dump it into the saucepan. Do this again, and then again once more. You add 3-cans of water to the tomato paste. Don’t throw the can away yet. Fill it with Coffee Rich or the milk of your choice. Set it aside.

Don’t add the milk to the tomato yet. If you do, then the soup will curdle. It will still be good to eat, but there will be tiny little flecks of white in the soup, instead of the creamy texture you want. Tomato is an acid, and when you add milk to an acid, it curdles. This is similar to what happens when you add vinegar or lemon juice to milk to make a substitute for buttermilk. So wait a bit before adding your milk to the soup.

Add the onion powder, garlic, pepper, sugar, bouillon and margarine to the saucepan with the tomato paste and water. Stir with a whisk or fork until the soup is smooth. Bring to a boil. Simmer for about 2 to 5 minutes, depending on how big of a hurry you’re in.

Now, stir in the Coffee Rich or milk of your choice. Remove the soup from the heat. Stir it; taste it. It should still be hot enough to eat. If it’s too cool, then reheat it gently until it’s steaming. Avoid boiling after you add the milk, to avoid curdling the soup. If your soup does curdle, then you can just serve it any way. That’s what I usually do. The flavor isn’t affected, just the appearance. My kids have eaten enough curdled tomato soup over the years that they don’t really notice the difference once way or the other. If you really want your soup to be creamy looking, then you can buzz it with an immersion blender until it’s smooth again. It’s simply a matter of aesthics.

1) Now that I’ve made you paranoid about milk and tomatoes, I have a confession to make. I’ve noticed that Coffee Rich is far less likely to curdle with tomatoes than soymilk or dairy milk. Because of this, when I use Coffee Rich to prepare this soup, I just add it along with the water, at the beginning. So all of the precautions I just warned about, don’t apply to Coffee Rich. So why did I take the time to write them out anyway? Because not everyone will use Coffee Rich, and I always like to know why I’m doing something a certain way when I cook, and I figured y’all would like to know too.

I am really enjoying Coffee Rich as a substitute for evaporated dairy milk and especially appreciate how it performs in soups and sauces. If you are dairy-free, you might want to give it a try. It’s in the frozen food section. At my market I found it with the frozen breakfast foods.

2) If you are using dairy milk to prepare this soup, then evaporated milk is probably the best tasting choice. You could also use fresh milk or reconstituted powdered milk, if you prefer. If you are using powdered milk, then you can use 1/2-cup of dry milk powder, dissolved in a can of water (2/3-cup), and make the equivalent of evaporated skim milk.

3) If you are using dairy-free milk, then just use the milk, straight from the carton. Unsweetened tastes best to me, but you may feel differently.

4) And lastly about the bouillon, I use 1-teaspoon of chicken bouillon powder and I think it tastes fine that way. My husband prefers it with 2-teaspoons of beef bouillon powder. It’s really a matter of taste. If you don’t have bouillon, then you can add 1/4-teaspoon salt instead. Maybe add a splash of soy sauce too, for depth of flavor. It will taste a little different, but it will still be good.

I love this! I have to limit my wheat intake…. sensitivity…. I really missed tomato soup…. so very figure friendly (we never added milk, but salsa instead… we like ours spicy wroth some cheese in it). Thank you so much!